Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Hallmark Hall of Fame Movie - The November Christmas

MOVIE REVIEW

The November Christmas

Hallmark Hall of Fame

Please Note: This inspiring movie is based upon a short story, written by Greg Coppa. I have had the privilege of reading this story, (as it was shared with me, by the author) and am truly looking forward to viewing the Hallmark Hall of Fame adaption.

In this drama, set in a small Rhode Island community, neighbors band together to create magical Halloween and Christmas moments - several weeks early - for a young girl named Vanessa, who is facing a serious illness.

Told entirely in flashback from the perspective of a vibrant Vanessa, at age 23, the drama begins in the summer of 1995 when the 8-year-old Vanessa (Emily Alyn Lind) has just returned from several weeks of tests and treatments at a Providence hospital. Though deeply concerned about Vanessa's serious prognosis, her father, Tom (John Corbett), is committed not only to her full recovery but also to keeping things as happy and normal as possible for her and his 4-year-old son, Gordon, and his wife, Beth (Sarah Paulson).

As newcomers to town, Tom and Beth choose to keep Vanessa's illness to themselves. As a result, Tom is initially perceived as an oddball by his farmer neighbor, Jess (Sam Elliott), after Tom shows up at Jess's vegetable stand hoping to purchase pumpkins and tag a Christmas tree. Jess cannot imagine why Tom would be crestfallen to learn that it's too soon for either activity. However, after subsequent interactions with Tom and the visibly weak Vanessa, Jess figures out what Tom is trying to do. Jess and his loving wife, Claire (Karen Allen), suffered their own loss years ago, so he is particularly empathetic - and motivated to help bring cheerful holiday moments to Vanessa as soon as possible.

Jess's mission to obtain pumpkins drives him to mend a broken relationship with his former best friend, Ted, whose nephew grows pumpkins south of New England. Soon Vanessa, Gordon and Tom are excitedly selecting from an array of pumpkins at Jess's stand, after which Vanessa's family enjoys a festive Halloween party - in August - thanks to more thoughtful contributions from Jess and the normally gruff Ted.

In subsequent weeks Vanessa must spend an extended period of time in Providence undergoing further treatments. When she's allowed to return home in November, Vanessa worries that she's scheduled to be back in the hospital in late December and will miss being home at Christmas. As Vanessa and her family drive home from the hospital, little does she -- or her parents -- know that Jess, Claire, Ted and other neighbors will welcome her home with a November Christmas she'll always remember.

Back in the present day at movie's end, we see how people's lives were impacted by the summer of 1995 - and how the "November Christmas" has never been forgotten by these two families and their friends.

NOVEMBER CHRISTMAS is a Hallmark Hall of Fame production. Brent Shields ("The Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler") is the executive producer; Robert Harmon (The Jesse Stone movies) is the director. P'nenah Goldstein ("Loving Leah") wrote the script based on the short story of the same name by Greg Coppa.

In the end after thefamily drove around town looking at all the Christmas decorations the family drove up to their home to see many townspeople lined up waiting to greet them at their wonderfully-decorated home.

When Vanessa went to sleep that night holding her little snow globe she awoke and ran outside to some "fresh snow". I don't know if the snow was real or just in her heart, but she said via narration from her now as a adult that all this love and care led to her getting better and better .

We are then taken to present day where Vanessa is back reading to the children in the library and a little girl asks her if this was a true story about her- yes.

She's then seen driving back to the tree-farm and the old farm house and stands there looking at the rows of trees at night - when they slowly light-up and her parent's, brother and the farmer/wife show up to greet her as it's her turn to tag her annual Christmas tree.

During the movie when the families were riding through the tree farm at night on the wagon, there was a beautiful song in the background. I couldn't really understand the words, but does anyone know what the song was, and who the singer was? It was a wonderful, feel good movie. I loved it!

Great movie. Does anyone know how or where I can get the Soundtrack from? The orchestral music scores are awesome!! Usually can find Sountracks on line but I've seached all over for this one, with no luck. Please help :-)

ABOUT ME

Hello Blog Friends & Followers! My Nickname is Net and more than Anything, I love my Savior, Jesus, and my precious Family! It's my joy to share and review Movies here on this Blog ~ that the entire Family can watch together on TV! Thank YOU so much for stopping by, Please leave a Comment... I enjoy hearing from You! ~ Net

My Amazon Movie Picks:

Images on Blog: *All Hallmark Channel and Hallmark Movie Channel Movie Images are the Property of Hallmark's Crown Media Family Networks. *All ABC Family Movie Images are the Property of ABC, ABC Family, and Disney. *All Lifetime and Lifetime Movie Network Images are the Property of Lifetime. *All Disney Movie Images are the Property of Walt Disney Co., Disney Channel, and Pixar. *All Masterpiece Theater images are the property of PBS. *All INSP Movie Images are the Property of INSP. *All UP Movie Images are the Property of UP. All Anne of Green Gables images are the property of Sullivan Entertainment Inc.

---------------

Total Pageviews

Over *13 Million Visits* and Counting! Thank *YOU* for being *ONE* of them!